Thursday, September 27, 2007

Say hello to ChewToastOnce! (again)

Haha yes that's right! I have become so addicted to EVE and have completely fallen in love with its style, its story (ie: the news because the story is the story of the players and thier alliances and economic stuff etc) and it's very unique and interesting game mechanics.

So who is this new character of mine? This 2nd account? (because its best to have two accounts if your gunna have more then one character, that way both can skill up at the same time, what a brilliant way for CCP to make tons of money from subscriptions) ChewToastOnce of course!

Which if you remember from my Lineage 2 character, ChewToastOnce is an anagram of CowNoseTheCat (my first EVE character).
Well there she is, Chewy herself. That's what her nickname is... Chewy and Kitty. :) I modeled her after the Lineage 2 version of ChewToastOnce. Which means she is average looking... but deadly behind that beautiful yet not extraordinary face.
Here is the ship you start out with if you race is Caldari, it's called the Ibis. It is a very crappy ship and I almost instantly upgraded... but it is worth a screenshot. :D
This is the ship I upgraded to, the merlin. I think it kind of looks like the fighters from StarCraft (the basic terran ship, the one that can cloak). It can uhm shoot... and stuff... I don't really know how to use it yet. ;)
And here is a picture of one of my corp mates Raven I think it is called? I might be mistaken on the name but damn that this is big and can really pack a punch! He mostly used missiles which I think it the Ravens specialty. I followed him around as he did some missions so that I could gain a bit of standing with the Gallente (I started with Caldari faction but I wanted to do Gallente missions because I want to fly Gallente ships). Man missions are boring! Honestly I don't see why people prefer them to mining so much...

Mining Pro's: Can make money faster in the 'endgame", can be semi-AFK and still mine,
Missioning Pro's: Can get money faster in the begining, can get nice faction gear/loot for PvP, the skills you train for running missions are as useful for PvP as they are mission running while mining skills are (obviously) useless in PvP.

Both are boring, both kind of make the same amount of cash, but I think mining makes more money in the end.

I prefer mining over running missions because that is something that I have always enjoyed in MMOs. If I look back on it.... *flashback* In EverQuest 2 I was a huuuge harvester, in Ultima Online I was a miner/lumberjacker/fisherperson, in Lineage 2 I was the Spoiler type dwarf which is the one that hunts for rare parts and materials instead of crafting them, , and I did a good deal of harvesting in Vanguard.

It's because I enjoy to grind, but while at the same time I grind I also listen to talk radio, watch a movie, or listen to a podcast. So the type of grinding that takes the least amount of concentration and focus is usually what I do. That way I can focus and concentrate on whatever I am watching or listening to. I hate missing important bits of the story. I know it seems kind of silly, you might think that if an MMO is so boring you have to watch a movie while playing it then it is not worth playing but this isn't true. See what makes a game like EVE or Lineage 2 worth grinding for is the PvP. All of your many hours of grinding can come down to a few minutes of heart-pounding PvP action. You might in one death loose days of hard work and clicking on boring things. This is what makes the PvP in games like EVE or Lineage 2 so much more rewarding and fun.

This is also the reason why WoW pvp (and EQ2 and other western MMOs) is really lame. Sure it might be fun here and there for a diversion but it really doesn't have any substance to it other then being a sort of min-game or something tacked on to the main game.

And on a final note, this is why a game like EverQuest 2 or World of Warcraft can be fun to play casually because you don't have to grind and grind for the best gear in order to get the most out of the game. You can have decent/crappy gear and still go and do all the quests go and hit up a dungeon with you friends and you will have a good time. It doesn't HAVE to be boring and grindy, it can be if you want (I know I harvested my butt off in EQ2 for no real reason) but the main focus and gameplay is more about the quests and social things.

Of course I have never raided in any MMO because I'm always starting over with new MMOs and new characters so I never get to the "endgame" and I hear it is a totally different story then... (like I have heard horror stories of needing to grind for hours just to get enough gold for armor repairs and consumables just for one raid, and I have heard these stories from more then one western MMO)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm in the blog! That's my Raven!! :)

Just a quick comment on missions vs. mining. I think it's just the other way around to how you have written it.

It's easy to throw some mining gear on a Navitas and - like you with Kitty - earn millions in days, where as it takes much more to get started on missions. You have to know how to handle your ship in a fight, how to tank it, how to kill stuff and what you will meet on your next mission.

Granted, in the beginning that's not all that important, but it is still more that what you need for mining. And in the beginning it pays off less.

My main started as a mining/industral/research character, but more and more slid away from that in favour of missions. In the 'endgame' of PvE, when you can comfortably solo level 4 missions there isn't much in highsec which would be more profitable. Mining is definitely not among it.

In a Hulk with T2 strip miners and good skills I could earn 10M ISK per hour if I could mine the best highsec ore (at the moment Kernite) nonstop and didn't have to haul. But that's not realistic, as I will not find that much Kernite in one place and have to switch to my hauler every two or three cans.

Missions on the other hand can earn you 15M ISK and more per hour. It does take more SP and becomes less afk-friendly the higher you get on the mission chain (until you get the perfect afk Raven mission whore) but it does earn you more money. It just gets boring some time. ;)

But unless min-maxing your MMO playtime for maximum ISK gain is your way of playing EVE... who cares? :P
You can become rich and powerful in dozens of ways, pick the one you enjoy most. :)

Cow Nose the 50 Pound Cat said...

Thanks for your comment Danyaen. Yup I agree with everything you said! Play to have fun. Was just some thoughts I had! :)

Anonymous said...

Doggone it! You're making me want to get back into EVE! Stop! I'm trying my hardest to wait till we get feet. Or at least until I get a job again. ...stupid money...